Right or Wrong customer complaint against postie

[music4essex]

Background, I work on a delivery that includes my own road,which I have been on the duty 5yrs
I do the duty in a way that I finish by my home.MY dom knows this and has no complaints.

For the past 3yrs or so I have had a neighbour dispute over a right of way/boundary fence, in which they lost,
Because they lost every so often they make complaints to RM customer complaints, which in turn the dom then comes to me with it and I have to say what i have been doing or how I am delivering the mail and this has happened 4 times in the last year,
Last week I had my shift week off,and the occupants of the house that complained alledgedly said i had left mail in the garden in pouches all day in the rain, when in fact I was not at work all week, when I am, all bags are left in my locked porch and cannot be seen by anyone as there is no windows, so as far as I am concerned this is harrassment what should I do or RM .

I have put in my reply that while I am off, that any pouches dropped off for my reserve by the drivers has nothing to do with me if they so wish to leave in my garden, really the dom should be asking them and not me?

Also the customer gets there mail last and complained about that but so does the other 10 homes before them?

This is verging on the ridiculous.

As some of you are aware i had a different of opinions with my dom at xmas so I am wary on how I tread.

Your thoughts appreciated,
Off for a ZUMBA workout
Essex mum

[tb35]

question 1
do you have pouch boxes on your delivery?
if yes use them
question 2
do you deliver as the frame runs
if no do so
question 3
why would you want to leave yourself open to possible conduct code issues?
if i were you i would, at least for the time, being do the job "properly" therefore completely reducing the element of conduct issues and and civil issues.
cover yourself at all times
good luck

[woofwoof]

Background, I work on a delivery that includes my own road,which I have been on the duty 5yrs
I do the duty in a way that I finish by my home.MY dom knows this and has no complaints.

For the past 3yrs or so I have had a neighbour dispute over a right of way/boundary fence, in which they lost,
Because they lost every so often they make complaints to RM customer complaints, which in turn the dom then comes to me with it and I have to say what i have been doing or how I am delivering the mail and this has happened 4 times in the last year,
Last week I had my shift week off,and the occupants of the house that complained alledgedly said i had left mail in the garden in pouches all day in the rain, when in fact I was not at work all week, when I am, all bags are left in my locked porch and cannot be seen by anyone as there is no windows, so as far as I am concerned this is harrassment what should I do or RM .

I have put in my reply that while I am off, that any pouches dropped off for my reserve by the drivers has nothing to do with me if they so wish to leave in my garden, really the dom should be asking them and not me?

Also the customer gets there mail last and complained about that but so does the other 10 homes before them?

This is verging on the ridiculous.

As some of you are aware i had a different of opinions with my dom at xmas so I am wary on how I tread.

Your thoughts appreciated,
Off for a ZUMBA workout
Essex mum

id see the cwu solicitor its free

[Indy]

Background, I work on a delivery that includes my own road,which I have been on the duty 5yrs
I do the duty in a way that I finish by my home.MY dom knows this and has no complaints.

For the past 3yrs or so I have had a neighbour dispute over a right of way/boundary fence, in which they lost,
Because they lost every so often they make complaints to RM customer complaints, which in turn the dom then comes to me with it and I have to say what i have been doing or how I am delivering the mail and this has happened 4 times in the last year,
Last week I had my shift week off,and the occupants of the house that complained alledgedly said i had left mail in the garden in pouches all day in the rain, when in fact I was not at work all week, when I am, all bags are left in my locked porch and cannot be seen by anyone as there is no windows, so as far as I am concerned this is harrassment what should I do or RM .

I have put in my reply that while I am off, that any pouches dropped off for my reserve by the drivers has nothing to do with me if they so wish to leave in my garden, really the dom should be asking them and not me?

Also the customer gets there mail last and complained about that but so does the other 10 homes before them?

This is verging on the ridiculous.

As some of you are aware i had a different of opinions with my dom at xmas so I am wary on how I tread.

Your thoughts appreciated,
Off for a ZUMBA workout
Essex mum

There must increasingly be a pattern to this? I KNOW its frustrating but I'd ignore it if your doing your job properly then you've nothing to worry about. Your DOM isn't thick (... is he?) so should be able to put 2 and 2 together.

[da'bunny]

It sounds to me that they have nothing better to do and are just being petty. Is it an old couple? I also deliver to my own road and always do a small part last on my way home. I had a customer complain that they allways got there mail late and why, why, why??? They complained to my Dom but i and he explained to them that someone had to be last on the round and the last delivery could be up to 2.15pm. As i always get there before that theres nothing they can do about it...they stopped talking to me for ages but do now!

[chrisj]

Sorry to be a party pooper but I dont think any postman should be delivering letter to their own homes - it does not sound right to me.

Also, your house/home should not be a bag drop for yourself or any other postman - there are so many issues of conflict of interest and mail integrity here. Do you get the £25 for using your house as a bag drop?

As soon as you took on your neighbour then you have exposed yourself to all sorts. It is hard enough taking on a neighbour without the added complication of your delivering letters to them and the rest.

4 complaints in a year is not that bad considering. So you must be doing your job very well but please no more bag drops at home especially if they are not secure - that should be the case anyway.

Havign said above, do yor job well and watch your back. Or move to another round if poss.

[taurus88]

Sorry to be a party pooper but I dont think any postman should be delivering letter to their own homes - it does not sound right to me.

Why not? If you cannot trust yourself, then how can anybody else? It's letters through letterboxes, the job is exactly the same ultimately. If anything, I'd say it puts even more emphasis on somebody to do the job well - don't sh*t in your own yard and all that bull.

Also, your house/home should not be a bag drop for yourself or any other postman - there are so many issues of conflict of interest and mail integrity here. Do you get the £25 for using your house as a bag drop?

It's the same principle as my first point. Is a postman/postwoman's house - with the mail LOCKED in a secure porch - any less safe than many of the alternative drops that Royal Mail has been using for years? For example, exposed gardens, or behind the counters at shops? The answer is no, if anything one would hope that it would be far safer leaving mail in the residence of an employee than with somebody who's taking their £25/whatever it is they pay them, and saying 'yeah, you can chuck the bags there'. Just because somebody has mail in their home, doesn't make them any more/less likely to keep the mail at home.

Personally, if I was the OP, I would tell the DOM that, seeing as it was my week off, it's his/her problem and I don't give a flying frak about it. If s/he then wants to make an issue of it then laugh at their intense and impossible stupidity at trying to get you for something when you weren't even on the company pay. In terms of the complaint, so long as the drop at your house has been approved I don't see how it's anybody's fault but the person who was dropping the bags off and the person who was picking them up.

[chrisj]

Very naive comment! So you trust yourself and then the world is alright, yea, right! I dont trust anyone BTW!

We are not allowed to take returned/missorts mail home with us - even if the office is closed, one should go and drop the mail in the box provided. I have forgotten packets in my car because they fall through the cracks and I have been told off or let off by the PHGs when they happen and even warned that it might be a conduct issue. Regardless of whether I bring the packets back before the office opens to customers

Some postmen and postwomen steal customer's mail so why should any customer trust a postman that actually has the mail in his house before delivery.

This is not an issue you can simply laugh at. If it is such a simply issue then this postman will not be so stressed about it.

If I were the customer, I will go striaght to the ombudsman to stop the postman handing my mail after having a legal dispute with the said postman. The postman can sabotage their mail... Yes, he could and why should the customer take the chance.

If the postman leaves mail in a bag drop point unsecured and in the rain then it is the duty of the people at the bag drop to report this because it might even encourage thieves to come and steal other things apart from mail from that property.

[taurus88]

I didn't say if you trust yourself then the world is alright - I said, albeit in other words, that if you do your job in your own backyard and people don't trust you/form a bond with you, then you've even less hope when you're away from home and your actions have diminished consequences. In this case, the poster works AND lives on their round. Anything they do wrong can be brought straight to their front door - the potential ramifications of that are huge, far more so than if you get into a feud with some knobber out in the sticks where you can go home and laugh about it.

In terms of the bag drop, if it's RM approved then it makes no difference. Once again I stress the OP's own point - that it is a LOCKED porch. This is far more safe than the gardens that bags have been dropped on (and still are being dropped on). It's not taking mail home, the circumstances are completely different - so long as it IS an approved bag drop. And by approved I don't mean verbally, verbally is not good enough with this company. There should be a written agreement between the OP and her manager for this to be acceptable, otherwise she's made a rod for her own back.

[Dorset Plodder]

Hi Chris & Taurus I can see both of you has a point. Obviously two different points of view and a good argument. The reason for this site apparently, although some people seem to believe everyone must bow to their point of view
Essex mum has obviously got to figure out how much crap she's willing to take. As there's already a bit of conflict with the DIM I'd be a bit cautious about the DIM sticking the knife in now he's got the chance.
Ball's in your court Essex, I'd tend to cover my own arse, once you get the DIM gunning for you I find it takes a while until he finds someone else to crap on.

[music4essex]

Thanks for the replys interesting debate and varied, Zumba was great The customer is a lady and her new husband living with the elderly parents and one of the parents is mentaly unstable, which was my solicitors assumption, plus they are both out of work and have nothing better to do, shame they cannot put as much effort in getting a job as to making complaints
[quote][/quote] uestion 1
do you have pouch boxes on your delivery? Yes And I use them been waiting 3yrs for a box to be put in garden RM security passed my porch for official bag drops
if yes use them
question 2
do you deliver as the frame runs No but a lot of us don't
if no do so
question 3
why would you want to leave yourself open to possible conduct code issues? I understand but I do the job in a reasonable manner , and what i call properly but in RM eyes what is properly nowadays.
if i were you i would, at least for the time, being do the job "properly" therefore completely reducing the element of conduct issues and and civil issues.
cover yourself at all times
good luck


I have lived down this road for about 30yrs since childhood so know a lot of folks, it is only these people that I seem to have problems with.I think xmas tips and presents told me what the other folks on my delivery thought of me.
I will update tomorrow after seeing dom

Thanks for the heads up appreciated

Essex mum

[dvbuk55]

At one point no one was allowed to deliver to their own address, they could be close but not actually deliver their own route. I feel that is the rule that should still apply. One of the reasons is that people seem to become attached to "their own" delivery and think of it as immutable, when in fact it is liable to change and a repick. In this instance you have to question if the delivery is set out logically or set out in order for the postie to finish at home. If it's the former well and good but if it's the latter then it is wrong.

[da'bunny]

[quote="chrisjDo you get the £25 for using your house as a bag drop?[/quote]

Ive never heard of that.

I was third to last in our repick no one wanted my round (which i personaly think is quite easy)! It just so happens i live on one of the roads, no one had an issue with that.

[music4essex]

Hi This is an update

I went in to see Dom this morning with a letter that I had written in defense that I was not at work last week,

Anyway the dom accepted that I had been on leave but asked the question as why bags were dropped in my garden ,
my reply was that that is for the other postman and driver to answer so I don#t drop anyone in it, but I do have a solution,

The dom after hearing about my idea then said we would have a drop box put in, so i replied you said I would have one, about 4yrs ago and again 4 months ago and knowing how RM are in such a state regarding money I cannot see it happening, His reply we can get it done straight away , ok well you have 5 weeks till I next have my shift week off

The the subject about the neighbours getting there mail before the end of delivery , He seemed to want me to change the way i do my delivery, not happy but thought I won't push it , so the neighbours from hell got there mail 10 mins before I finished, just changed the road I finish on slightly, but had to have another bag dropped off so more time to pick another bag up,

When I delivered there letters one was from Customer complaints in portsmouth, so it looks like the manager in last week had already replied to them , I also said to my dom that I wanted it written in a letter to them that i was not on duty as they
so insisted in there complaint,

Thanks for the replies

Essex mum

[calpsy]

question 1
do you have pouch boxes on your delivery?
if yes use them
question 2
do you deliver as the frame runsif no do so
question 3
why would you want to leave yourself open to possible conduct code issues?
if i were you i would, at least for the time, being do the job "properly" therefore completely reducing the element of conduct issues and and civil issues.
cover yourself at all times
good luck

EH ? ? ? Get a grip ! ! . WHY ffs ? ? ? EVERYONE can and DOES do the frame to suit themselves . Have you been told you MUST MUST MUST do it by the frame ??? Nah didnt think so .